Raymond is the Man (Day 17)
We woke up in Cable Gap on the earlier side in order to push ahead to the Fontana Hilton (Fontana Dam Shelter), renowned for it’s running water, shower, and electricity. Another morning with light, intermittent rain. Which is something I really don’t mind too much.
Once we arrived at the Hilton, Pants and I started gaming out how we were going to resupply to get through the Smokies (Great Smoky Mountains National Park). We had some intel that the usual resupply at Fontana Village was cleared out of most useful items. There was a shuttle service list on the wall in the shelter and after trying a few numbers, Raymond responded!
Raymond said he could come pick us up straight from the shelter and shuttle us into Robbinsville, NC for resupply. Pants, Weast, Two Timer, and I piled into his van. We saw a food truck in town called Chubby Chicks and knew we had to make a stop. We got resupplied at Ingles for a 6 day food carry and then headed back to the Hilton. Thanks Raymond!
Robbinsville Run
I got my hiker trash shower at the Fontana Hilton. It was stunningly wonderful. I packed out a few bell peppers and some cornbread from town to eat for dinner. With roughly 35 hikers (most of whom I knew) converging on the Hilton, a shelter party was on.
I was having a great time eating my dinner when Earthquake asked me what I was eating. He’s from Germany, so cornbread is a completely foreign concept to him. He offered to trade me a piece of pizza for my cornbread. I told him that was definitely not a fair trade for him but he insisted. Its an important note that at this point I was eating the cornbread cold, but at least with butter.
Earthquake took a big bite and the first thing out of his mouth was “Why?!? It’s like normal bread but worse!” I had to agree that it wasn’t great cold. A few minutes later I had an idea: I’d been carrying a jar of frosting. So far I’ve found it makes everything I put it on taste better and cornbread was no exception. Earthquake concurred.
First Truly Challenging Day (Day 18)
Let me preface this day by saying that hiking 10+ miles with a pack everyday is never truly easy. Mentally or physically. But up until this point, what I asked of my body and mind each day lined up with what they could handle relatively well and I didn’t struggle much. This was about to change.
Morning view from the Hilton
Pants and I left the shelter pretty late, taking our time to get the weight of our packs distributed well. Before we had gone 100 ft I knew it was going to be a long day. The 6 day food carry brought my pack somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 lbs, when my body was adjusted to a max of 38 lbs. Not only was it more days of food but I was increasing what I put down each day.
Fontana Dam in the rain
Pants crossing Fontana Dam
By the time we crossed Fontana Dam my knees already hurt. Pretty soon we were stopping to put in our permits at the border of the Smokies and all I could think about was the blessed relief of getting to take my pack off.
Crossing the border into the Smokies
Then it was time to climb. We went slow and steady up the climbs, my legs straining. I think those climbs probably would have been hard without extra weight. We got a short respite at Shuckstack, where we dropped our packs to go see the fire tower up the blue blaze and then ate lunch with a bunch of thru hiker friends.
Shuckstack Fire Tower View
We finally made it to the shelter mid afternoon, after a low mile day that made my whole body hurt. I spent extra time that night stretching and taking care of my body, because I knew many more Smokies miles were yet to come.
In spite of the tough day, I still found myself blown away that I’d made it to the Smokies and that God blessed me with the opportunity to be out here.
Mist and more Challenge (Day 19)
As we left the shelter in the morning, a heavy mist lay over the land. It lent a lot of ambience to the mossy forest floor. On and off rain kept us cool and moving along. We missed several views early in the day and eventually we decided it was a headphones day.
Mystical Smokies Gap
The mist abated an hour or two before we made it to the Derrick’s Knob shelter and gave us some beautiful hiking, although it was pretty technical and extra difficult when wet.
In the middle of the night I awoke because I needed to pee. The mist lay thick on the ridge. After I fumbled with my glasses and an extra layer and got my shoes on, I struck out from the shelter to find a good tree. All was fine until I turned around to return and realized that the mist was catching my headlamp beam leaving me with only 15 ft or so of visibility. After a moment of panic, I struck out in the direction I thought the shelter was.
Thankfully my bearings were still correct and I found it pretty much right away. I can’t imagine trying to go any real distance in those conditions though. Definitely the closest I’ve come to getting lost on the AT. Thankful to God for preserving me.
Short Shorts after Dark (Day 20)
Third Sunday on trail. Pants and I spent the morning in worship, which is so easy to do in a place as beautiful as the Smokies.
About midday I began to notice my body starting to respond better to the miles. Ever since entering the Smokies I’d been struggling some and it was super encouraging to see my body finally being up to the task at hand.
In the early afternoon we climbed Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the AT (~6600 ft) where we planned to watch the sunset. We meandered down to the visitor’s center where I nabbed a sticker (been collecting along the way).
We were standing in the gift shop when I asked Pants if he’d found any water. The park employee behind the counter said “There’s canned water behind you”. As a thru hiker the concept of paying for water, especially when it’s $1.50 for 12 oz, feels like a sin. So pants and I poked around a little bit.
We managed to find a very small spring running right behind and uphill from the visitor’s center. Hats off to Pants for finding that. We filled up while day hikers climbing the asphalt path to the summit gawked at us.
We decided to climb back up to the top of the dome to await sunset. We were sitting on our pads right off the path in the shade, feet out and up. We had a lot of interactions with Day Hikers asking us if we were “AT Hikers”. They were all very kind and curious people, but it did get a little old. Just trying to eat m&ms and loiter over here.
We did meet a few very cool people though, with whom conversation went beyond the average day hiker interaction. One couple we met on top of the observation tower while waiting for sunset. Very sweet people, wonderful to get to talk to them about their trip to the Smokies and about our Thru hike.
Mid-Sunset over the Smokies
End of Sunset over the Smokies
We also met a crew of Thru Hikers including Dutche, PigPen, Blazer, Fidget, and Stretch. Pretty cool group. They looked like big miles people so Pants and I didn’t expect to see them again.
After sunset we downed our headlamps and started descending towards Mt. Collins. I was super excited since my first name is Collin.
Short Shorts after Dark is a scary monster. Not exactly sure what happened but I was moving very fast that night. Pants had to run every few steps to keep up. Thankfully as of writing this we haven’t had to night hike since, so Short Shorts after Dark hasn’t come out again.
Short Shorts After Dark at the Summit of Mt. Collins
Coming into a shelter after 8 pm is considered bad manners, particularly if you make a lot of noise. We got to the shelter at 10:30 and bungled around will trying to find tent spots and open bear cables without making ourselves the most unpopular people in the Smokies. Thankfully no one in the morning was upset.
Newfound Bunyans (Day 21)
It was definitely hard to wake up after that night hike. When I emerged from my tent the vibe was very different. We had passed through several Spruce forest areas in the Smokies, but this was the first time we’d camped in one of those areas. The Fir trees cast very different light and the undergrowth is all completely different.
We got to Newfound Gap mid morning, the mid point of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This was day 3 in the park. This was our first state line sign on trail, since we missed the Georgia sign due to fire closure.
First State Line Sign!
Under 2000 mi. to Mt. Katahdin!
We ate lunch at Charlie’s Bunyan, a very cool formation right off the Ridgeline. The AT does a lot of ridge running in the northern/eastern half of the Smokies which was very cool.
Short Shorts finds a Bunyan
We started upping our miles since our packs were down 2 days of food and felt very good hitting 16 miles with a healthy helping of vert.
End of the Smokies (Day 22)
We upped our miles even more the next day, hitting almost 22. That’s a new record on this hike. I started signing the trail logs “Hot Springs or Bust”, since we were pushing to Hot Springs before we ran out of food.
We saw many cool views along the Ridgeline, but Mt. Cammerer was probably the best. It was a bit out of the way, but the blue blaze was worth it. Atop the mountain stands a fire lookout, the first I’ve ever gotten to see! Lookouts are 1-2 story ground based structures for fire spotting, while fire towers are well…towers. Incredible view, my favorite of the many in the Smokies.
Mt. Cammerer Fire Lookout
Didn’t spot a fire this time
We descended all the way to the Davenport Gap shelter, putting us under 2 miles from the exit of the National Park after 5 days in the park. I was hurting that evening.
Max Patch in a Thunderstorm (Day 23)
First thing in the morning, right after leaving the shelter, Pants and I were saying goodbye to the Smokies. The park has extra rules, heavy day hiker and section hiker traffic, and a reputation for fog clouding the views. But I know a part of my heart will stay in those mountains.
Another mile later and our immersion in the forest was shattered when we crossed under Interstate 40. Construction is ongoing in that area so Thru hikers have to keep heads on a swivel.
We walked up the Standing Bear Farm and Hostel around 9:30 where we planned to grab some snacks to get us through the last day to Hot Springs, NC. Standing Bear has a bit of a negative reputation in the Thru Hiker community. Just gonna leave that there.
We ran into Dutche, Stretch, PigPen, Fidget, and Stretch again while we took care of business at Standing Bear! That surprised me. Pretty cool to get to know them a bit better.
We knew that past standing bear we would be climbing a ridiculous amount (our highest very day yet, 6000+ ft over 20 miles). It was pretty rough.
We summited Snowbird Mountain around midday, where we saw an FAA installation, I think it was Air Traffic Control Radar. That is if it wasn’t a UFO.
Pants about to get Abducted by the UFO
We ran into Weast, Two Timer, Uno/Rebar, Magnum, Widget, and Angler on top of Snowbird and it was great to see some familiar faces after a long time in the Smokies without.
We joined them for lunch at the next shelter. I was preaching the merits of carrying a jar of frosting among the other conversations.
Then we pushed on towards Max Patch. On the Ascent it started thunderstorming on us, but the rain passed soon enough that we thought it would be safe to go up the bald. I imagine Max Patch is pretty incredible in the sunshine, but I think I prefer the range of the view we had. A mix of thunderstorms on two sides and sunny hills with rainbows over top on the other two.
Max Patch in a Thunderstorm
After Max Patch I was already done for the day, but we trudged on to the shelter a few miles away. At the shelter we met One Speed and Taboo.
Pizza on my Mind (Day 24)
With all of the miles that we pushed in the last 4 days, Pants and I had only 17 miles to go before Hot Springs, where we had booked spots in the Appalachian Trail-er Hostel. Those miles flew by, partially since much of the way was smooth descent and partially because I knew I was getting pizza when we got into town. A friend from home had told me about Vinyl Pies and convinced me to check it out and I’d been waiting the whole hike for this.
Even though we were moving fast, I still managed to notice all of the Mountain Laurels starting to bloom, absolutely stunning since Mountain Laurel is all over the place.
We rolled up the hostel around 3:45 and got showers and loaner clothes. Every single town shower feels like the best shower I’ve ever taken. After getting the lay of the land from Big Catt and Shephard, caretakers of the Hostel for this season, we headed out into town.
Visited Vinyl Pies two weeks after reopening from Helene damage
Once I saw Vinyl Pies it was finally time. One pizza and beer later, all I could do was marvel at how good town days can be. I spent the evening catching up on blog posting with my feet up.
Pizza was gone 20 min. later
As always thanks for reading, may God bless you and Happy Trails!
